The Linach 15 is featured in WoodenBoat magazine’s May/June 2022 edition and was designed by Sam Devin in collaboration with James Guzzwell, the builder, who wanted a large two-piece “nesting” rowing, sailing, and fishing dinghy for Utah’s mountain lakes. The design goal was to create the largest possible dinghy that could easily be transported inside any large SUV, minivan, or pickup truck capable of carrying a standard 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood, with each hull section, therefore, being slightly less than 8’ long.
The nesting concept offers several advantages. The boat doesn’t require a trailer for transport, simplifying long road trips to various lakes in other states, and also making parking much easier without a trailer. In addition, the two parts of the dinghy easily store against the inside walls of a garage or shed during the winter season. The dinghy rows and sails well, can carry up to 4 people, and is relatively simple and fast to build while still having an attractive hull shape. With a small electric or gasoline outboard motor it would also be quite suitable for a pleasant day’s fishing on a local lake.
This is truly a unique design–No other designs on the market met the builder’s requirements–either they were too beamy to fit inside his vehicle, or they lacked the length and passenger and load carrying capability he needed. A final design criteria was that the dinghy needed to be safe to operate in cold water, with large built-in buoyancy tanks and additional foam floatation panels that can be removed to facilitate “nesting.”
